Oath of the Angel that REVELATION, X. there shall be no more Delay appointed season or time of delay is at an end (the same Greek is here as in ch. 6. 11, chronus). Not as English Version implies. Time shall end and eternity begin. 7. But-Connected with v. 6. "There shall be no longer time (i.e., delay), but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to (so the Greek) sound his trumpet (so the Greek, then (lit., also; which conjunction often introduces the consequent member of a sentence) the mystery of God is finished," lit., has been finished: the prophet regarding the future as certain as if it were past. A, C, N. and Coptic, read the past tense (Greek etelesthee). Breads, as English Version, the future (Greek felesthee), "should Sweet consolation to be finished" (cf. ch. 11. 15-18). the waiting saints! The seventh trumpet shall be sounded without further delay. the mystery of Godthe theme of the "little book," and so of the remainder of the Apocalypse. What a grand contrast to the "mystery of iniquity -Babylon." The mystery of God's scheme of redemption, once hidden in God's secret counsels, and dimly shadowed forth in types and prophecies, but now more and more clearly revealed according as the gospel-kingdom developes itself, up to its fullest consummation at the end. Then finally His servants shall praise Him most fully, for the glorious consummation of the mystery in having taken to Himself and His saints the kingdom so long usurped by Satan and the ungodly. Thus this verse is an anticipation of ch. 11. 15-18. declared to-Greck, God's purposes, not to be fully read till the final consummation. This other, a less book, contained only a portion which John was now to make his own (v. 9. 11, and then to use in prophesying to others. The New Testament begins with the word "book" (Greek biblus), of which the little book" (Greek biblaridion) is the diminutive, the little bible," the Bible in miniature. upon the sea...earth-Though the beast with seven heads is about to arise out of the sea (ch. 13, 1), and the beast with two horns like a lamb (ch. 13. 11) out of the earth, yet it is but for a time, and that time shall no longer be (v. 6. 7) when once the seventh trumpet is about to sound: the angel with his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth, claims both as God's, and as about soon to be cleared of the usurper and his followers. 3. As...lion-Christ, whom the angel represents, is often so symbolised (ch. 6. 5," the Lion of the tribe of Juda"). seven thunders-Greek, "the seven thunders." They form part of the apocalyptic symbolism; and so are marked by the article as well known. Thus thunderings marked the opening of the seventh seal (ch. 8. 1, 5): so also at the seventh vial (ch. 16. 17, 18). WORDSWORTH calls this the prophetic use of the article: "the thunders, of which more hereafter." Their full meaning shall be only known at the grand consummation marked by the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet (ch. 11. 19), and the seventh vial. uttered their -Greek."spake their own voices:" i.e., voices peculiarly their own, and not now revealed to men. 4. Whenreads, "Whatsoever things." But most MSS. support"declared the glad tidings to." "The mystery of God" English Version, uttered their voices-A, B, C. omit "their voices." Then translate, "Had spoken." unto me-Omitted by A, B, C. N, Syriac. seal up-The opposite command to ch. 22. 10. Even though at the time of the end the things sealed in Daniel's time were to be revealed, yet not so the voices of these thunders. Though heard by John, they were not to be imparted by him to others in this book of Revelation: so terrible are they that God in mercy withholds them, since "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." The godly are thus kept from morbid ponderings over the evil to come; and the ungodly are not driven by despair into utter wrecklessness of life. ALFORD adds another aim in concealing them, viz., "godly fear, seeing that the arrows of God's quiver are not exhausted." Besides the terrors foretold, there are others unutterable and more horrifying lying in the background. 5. lifted up his hand-So A and Vulgate read. But B, C, N. Syriac, Coptic, "...his right hand." | It was customary to lift up the hand towards heaven, appealing to the God of truth, in taking a solemn oath. There is in this part of the vision an allusion to Daniel, 12. Cf. v. 4, with Daniel, 12. 4, 9; and this v. 5, 6, end, with Daniel, 12. 7. But there the angel clothed in linen, and standing upon the waters, sware "a time, times, and a half," were to interpose before the consummation: here, on the contrary, the angel standing with his left foot on the earth, and his right upon the sea, swears there shall be time no longer. There he lifted up both hands to heaven; here he has the little book now open (whereas in Daniel the book is sealed) in his left hand (v. 2), and he lifts up only his right hand to heaven. 6. liveth for ever and ever-Greek, "liveth unto the ages of the ages" (cf. Daniel, 12. 7). created heaven...earth... sea, &c.-This detailed designation of God as the Creator, is appropriate to the subject of the angel's oath, viz., the consummating of the mystery of God (v. 7), which can surely be brought to pass by the same Almighty power that created all things, and by none else. that there should be time no longer Greek, "that time (i.e., an interval of time) no longer shall be." The martyrs shall have no longer a time to wait for the accomplishment of their prayers for the purgation of the earth by the judgments which shall remove their and God's foes from it (ch. 6. 11). The is the gospel glad tidings. The office of the prophets is to receive the glad tidings from God, in order to declare them to others. The final consummation is the great theme of the gospel announced to, and by, the prophets (cf. Galatians, 3. 8). 8. spake...and said-So Syriac and Coptic read. But A, B, C, **(I heard) again speaking with me, and saying" (Greek lalousan... legousan). little book-So N and B read. But A, C, "the book." 9. Greek, "I went away." John here leaves heaven, his standing-point of observation heretofore, to be near the angel standing on the earth and sea. Give-A, B, C, and Vulgate read the infinitive, "Telling him to give." eat it up-appropriate its contents so entirely as to be assimilated with (as food), and become part of thyself, so as to impart them the more vividly to others. His finding the roll sweet to the taste at first, is because it was the Lord's will he was doing, and because, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he regarded God's will as always agreeable, however bitter might be the message of judgment to be announced. Cf. Psalm 40. 8, Margin, as to Christ's inner complete appropriation of God's word. thy belly bitter-Parallel to Ezekiel, 2. 10, "There was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe." as honey (Psalm 19. 10; 119. 103.) Honey sweet to the mouth, sometimes turns into bile in the stomach. The thought that God would be glorified (ch. 11. 3-6, 11-18) gave him the sweetest pleasure. Yet, afterwards the belly, or carnal natural feeling, was embittered with grief at the prophecy of the coming bitter persecutions of the church (ch. 11. 7-10), cf. John, 16. 1, 2. The revelation of the secrets of futurity is sweet to one at first. but bitter and distasteful to our natural man, when we learn the cross which is to be borne before the crown shall be won. John was grieved at the coming apostasy and the sufferings of the church at the hands of Antichrist. 10. the little book-So A, C. But B, N. and Vulgate," the book." was bitter-Greek, "was embittered." 11. he said-A, B, and Vulgate read, "they say unto me?" an indefinite expression for "it was said unto me." Thou must-The obligation lies upon thee, as the servant of God, to prophesy at His command. again-as thou didst already in the previous part of this book of Revelation. before-rather as Greek (epi laois), concerning many peoples," &c., viz., in their Measuring of the Temple REVELATION, XL relation to the church. The eating of the book, as in Ezekiel's case, marks John's inauguration to his prophetical office here to a fresh stage in it, viz., the revealing of the things which befall the holy city and the church of God-the subject of the rest of the book, CHAPTER XI. and Worshippers with a Reed, shall yield to his pretensions. WORDSWORTH objects that, in the twenty five passages of the Acts, wherein the Jewish temple is mentioned, it is called kieron, not noos, and so in the apostolic epistles; but this is simply because no occasion for mention ng the iteral Holy place Greek naos occurs in Acts and the epistles: indeed, in Acts, 7, 48, though not directly, there does occur the term naos, indirectly referring to the Jerusalem temple Holy place. In addressing Gentile Christians, to whom the literal Jerusalem temple was not familiar, it was to be expected the term nãos shotli not be found in the literal, but in the spiritual sense. In v. 19, naos is used in a local sense; cf. also ch. 14. 15, 17; 15. 5, 8. 2. Bat-Greek, "And." the court...without all outside the Holy place (r. 1). leave cut-of thy measurement. lit., cast out:" reckon as unhallowed. it-Emphatical. It is not to be measured: whereas the holy place is. given-by God's appointment. unto the Gentiles-In the wider sense, there are meant bere the times of the Gentiles," wherein Jerusalem is Ver. 1-19. MEASUREMENT OF THE TEMPLE. THE TWO WITNESSES' TESTIMONY: THEIR DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION: THE EARTHQUAKE: THE THIRD WOE: THE SEVENTH TRUMPET USHERS IN CHRIST'S KINGDOM. THANKSGIVING OF THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS. This eleventh chapter is a compendious summary of, and introduction to, the more detailed prophecies of the same events to come in chs. 12., 13., 14., 15., 16., 17., 18, 19., 20. Hence we find anticipatory allusions to the subsequent prophecies; cf. r. 7."the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit" (not mentioned before, with the detailed accounts, ch. 12, 1, 11; 17. 8; also r. 8, "the great city," with ch. 14. 8; 17. 1, 5; 18. 10. 1. and the angel stood -Omitted in A, Vulgate, and Coptic. Supported by B"trodden down of the Gentiles," as the parallel, Luke, and Syriac. If it be omitted, the reed will, in construetion, agree with "saying." So WORDSWORTH takes it. The reed, the canon of Scripture, the measuring reed of the church, our rule of faith, speaks. So in ch. 16. 7, the altar is personified as speaking (cf. Note there). The Spirit speaks in the canon of Scripture (the word canon is derived from Hebrew kanch, "a reed," the word here used: and John it was who completed the canon). SO VICTORINUS, AQUINAS, and VITRINGA, "Like a rod," viz., straight: like a rod of iron (ch. 2. 27, unbending, destroying all error, and that "cannot be broken." Ch. 2. 27; Hebrews, 1. 8, Greek, "a rod of straightness," English Version, "a sceptre of right eousness:" this is added to guard against it being thought that the reed was one "shaken by the wind." In the abrupt style of the Apocalypse, saying" is possibly indefinite, put for "one said." Still WORDSWORTH's view agrees best with the Greek. So the ancient commentator, ANDREAS of Cesarea, in the end of the fifth century (cf. Note, v. 3, 4). the temple-Greek naon as distinguished from the Greek hieron, or temple in general), the holy place, "the sanctuary." the altar of incense; for it alone was in the sanctuary (Greek naos). The measurement of the holy place seems to me to stand parallel to the sealing of the elect of Israel under the sixth seal. God's elect are symbolized by the sanctuary at Jerusalem (1 Corinthians, 3. 16, 17, where the same Greek word naos occurs for "temple," as here). Literal Israel in Jerusalem, and with the temple restored (Ezekiel, 40, 3, 6, where also the temple is measured with the measuring reed, 41, 42, 43, 44.), shall stand at the head of the elect church. The measuring implies at once the exactness of the proportions of the temple to be restored, and the definite completeness (not one being wanting) of the numbers of the Israelite, and of the Gentile elec tions. The literal temple at Jerusalem shall be the typical forerunner of the heavenly Jerusalem, in which there shall be all temple, and no portion exclusively set apart as temple. John's accurately drawing the distinction in subsequent chapters between God's ser-world-power's time is broken at best: it answers to vants, and those who bear the mark of the beast, is the way whereby he fulfils the direction here given him to measure the temple. The fact that the temple is distinguished from them that worship therein, favours the view that the spiritual temple, the Jewish and Christian church, is not exclusively meant, but that the literal temple must also be meant. It shall be rebuilt on the return of the Jews to their land. Antichrist shall there put forward his blasphemous claims. The sealed elect of Israel, the head of the elect church, alone shall refuse his claims. These shall constitute the true sanctuary which is here measured, i.e., accurately marked and kept by God, whereas the rest 21. 24, proves: for the same word is used here (Greet patein], "tread under foot." Cf. also Psalm 79. 1; Isaiah, 3. 18, forty...two months-ch. 13. 5) The same period as Daniel's "time, times, and a half” (ch. 12. 14; and v. 3, and ch. 12. 6, the woman a fugitive in the wilderness "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." In the wider sense, we may either adopt the year-day theory of 1260 years on which, and the papal rule of 1260 years, see my Notes, Daniel, 7. 25; 8. 14; 12. 11), or rather, regard the 2300 days Daniel, &. 14, 135 days (Daniel, 12. 11, 12, 1290 days, and 1260 days, as symbolical of the long period of the Gentile times. whether dating from the subversion of the Jewish theocracy at the Babylonian captivity (the kingdom having been never since restored to Israel, or from the last destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, and extending to the restoration of the theocracy at the com ing of Him" whose right it is" the different epochs marked by the 2.00, 1335, 1290, and 1260 days, will not be fully cleared up till the grand consummation; but, meanwhile, our duty and privilege urge us to investigate them. Some one of the epochs assigned by mary may be right, but as yet it is uncertain. The tunes of the Gentile monarchies during Israel's seven times punishment, will probably, in the narrower sense (r. 2. be succeeded by the much more restricted times of the personal Antichrist's tyranny in the Holy Land. The long years of papal misrule may be followed by the short time of the man of sin, who shall concentrate in himself all the apostasy, persecution, and evil of the various forerunning antichrists, Antiochus, Mahomet, Popery, just before Christ's advent. His time shall be THE RECAPITULATION and open consummation of the "mystery of iniquity" so long leavening the world. Witnessing churches may be followed by witnessing individuals, the former occupying the longer, the latter, the shorter period. The three and a half (1260 days being three and a half years of 260 days each, during which the two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth) is the sacred number seren halved, implying the anti-Christian the three and a half years' period in which Christ wil- The Forty-two Months, REVELATION, XI. the Times of the Gentiles. forty-two sojournings (Numbers, 33. 1-50) in the wilder | with their teachings: so Elijah, and John who came in ness, as contrasted with the Sabbatic rest in Canaan: his spirit and power. The sackcloth of the witnesses reminding the church that here, in the world-wilder- is a catchword linking this episode under the sixth ness, she cannot look for her Sabbatic rest. Also, trumpet, with the sun black as sackcloth (in righteous three and a half years was the period of the heaven retribution on the apostates who rejected God's witbeing shut up, and of consequent famine in Elias' time. nesses) under the sixth seal (ch, 6. 12). 4. standing Thus, three and a half represented to the church the before the God of the earth-A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, idea of toil, pilgrimage, and persecution. 3. I will Coptic, and ANDREAS read "Lord" for "God:" so give power-There is no "power" in the Greek, so that Zechariah, 4. 14. Ministering to (Luke, 1. 10), and as "give" must mean "give commission," or some such in the sight of, Him who, though now so widely disword. my two witnesses-Greek, "the two witnesses of owned on earth, is its rightful King, and shall at last me." The article implies that the two were well known be openly recognised as such (v. 15. The phrase alludes at least to John. prophesy-preach under the inspira- to Zechariah, 4. 10, 14, "the two anointed ones that tion of the Spirit, denouncing judgments against the stand by the Lord of the whole earth." The article apostate. They are described by symbol as "the two "the" marks this allusion. They are "the two candleolive trees" and "the two candlesticks," or lamp-stands, sticks," not that they are the church, the one candle"standing before the God of the earth." The reference stick, but as its representative light-bearers (Greek, is to Zechariah, 4. 3, 12, where two individuals are Philippians. 2. 15, phosteres), and ministering for its meant, Joshua and Zerubbabel, who ministered to the encouragement in a time of apostasy. WORDSWORTH'S Jewish church, just as the two olive trees emptied the view is worth consideration, whether it may not constioil out of themselves into the bowl of the candlestick. tute a secondary sense: the two witnesses, the olive trees. So in the final apostasy God will raise up two inspired are THE TWO TESTAMENTS ministering their testimony witnesses to minister encouragement to the afflicted, to the church of the old dispensation, as well as to that though sealed, remnant. As two candlesticks are men- of the new, which explains the two witnesses being tioned v. 4, but only one in Zechariah, 4., I think the called also the two candlesticks (the Old and New Tes twofold church, Jewish and Gentile, may be meant by tament churches: the candlestick in Zechariah, 4. is the two candlesticks represented by the two witnesses: but one, as there was then but one testament, and one just as in ch. 7., there are described first the sealed of church, the Jewish). The church in both dispensations Israel, then those of all nations. But see Note, v. 4. has no light in herself, but derives it from the Spirit The actions of the two witnesses are just those of through the witness of the twofold word, the two olive Moses when witnessing for God against Pharaoh (the trees: cf. (Note) v. 1, which is connected with this, the type of Antichrist, the last and greatest foe of Israel, reed, the Scripture canon, being the measure of the turning the waters into blood, and smiting with church: so PRIMASIUS X., p. 314: the two witnesses plagues and of Elijah (the witness for God in an preach in sackcloth, marking the ignominious treatalmost universal apostasy of Israel, a remnant of 7000, ment which the word, like Christ Himself, receives however, being left, as the 144,000 sealed, ch. 7.) causing from the world. So the twenty-four elders represent fire by his word to devour the enemy, and shutting the ministers of the two dispensations by the double heaven, so that it rained not for three years and six twelve. But v. 7 proves that primarily the two months, the very time (1260 days) during which the two testaments cannot be meant; for these shall never be witnesses prophesy. Moreover, the words "witness" "killed," and never "shall have finished their testiand "prophesy' are usually applied to individuals, not mony" till the world is finished. 5. will hurt-Greek, to abstractions (cf. Psalm 62. 8). DE BURCH thinks "wishes," or "desires to hurt them." fie...devourethElijah and Moses will again appear, as Malachi, 4. 5, 6 Cf. Jeremiah, 5. 14; 23. 29.) out of their mouth-Not seems to imply (cf. Matthew, 17. 11; Acts, 3. 21). Moses literally but God makes their inspired denunciations and Elijah appeared with Christ at the transfiguration, of judgment to come to pass and devour their enemies. which foreshadowed His coming millennial kingdom. if any man will hurt them-Twice repeated, to mark the As to Moses, cf. Deuteronomy, 34, 5, 6; Jude, 9. Elias' immediate certainty of the accomplishment, in this genius and mode of procedure bears the same relation manner-so in like manner as he tries to hurt them to the second coming of Christ, that John the Baptist's (cf. ch. 13. 10). Retribution in kind. 6 Thes...power did to the first coming. [BENGEL.] Many of the early-Greek,"authorized power." it rain not-Greek hustos church thought the two witnesses to be Enoch and Elijah. This would avoid the difficulty of the dying a second time, for these have never yet died; but, perhaps, shall be the witnesses slain. Still, the turning the water to blood, and the plagues (v. 6), apply best to Moses (cf. ch. 15. 3, "the song of Moses"). The trans--Greek, "the wild beast... the abyss." This beast was figuration-glory of Moses and Elias was not their permanent resurrection-state, which shall not be till Christ shall come to glorify His saints, for He has precedence before all in rising. An objection to this interpretation is, that those blessed departed servants of God would have to submit to death (v. 7. 8), and this in Moses' case a second time, which Hebrews, 9. 27 denies. See my Note, Zechariah, 4. 11, 12, on the two witnesses as answering to "the two olive trees." The two olive trees are channels of the oil feeding the church, and symbols of peace. The Holy Spirit is the oil in them. Christ's witnesses, in remarkable times of the church's history, have generally appeared in pairs: as Moses and Aaron, the inspired civil and religious authorities; Caleb and Joshua: Ezekiel the priest, and Daniel the prophet: Zerubbabel and Joshua. in sackcloth-The garment of prophets, especially when calling people to mortification of their sins, and to repentance. Their very exterior aspect accorded brechee), "rain shower not." lit., "moisten not" (the earth), smite...with all plagues-Greek, with (lit., in) every plague." 7. finished their testimony-The same verb is used of Paul's ending his ministry by a violent death. the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit not mentioned before, yet he is introduced as "the beast," because he had already been described by Daniel (7. 3, 11), and he is fully so in the subsequent part of the Apocalypse, viz., ch. 13. 1; 17. 8. Thus, John at once appropriates the Old Testament prophecies: and, also, viewing his whole subject at a glance, mentions as familiar things (though not yet so to the reader) objects to be described hereafter by himself. It is a proof of the unity that pervades all Scripture. make war against them-alluding to Daniel, 7, 21, where the same is said of the little horn that sprang up among the ten horns on the fourth beast. 8. dead bodies-So Vulgate, Syriac and ANDREAS. But A, B, C, the oldest MSS, and Coptic read the singular, "dead body." The two fallen in one cause are considered as one. the great city-Eight times in the Revelation elsewhere used of BABYLON ch. 14. 8: 16. 19; 17. 18; 18. 10, 16, 18, 19, 21). In ch. 21. 10 (English Version as to the new Jerusalem), the oldest MSS. omit "the great" before Staying of the Two Witnesses. REVELATION, XL Their Resurrection and Ascension. city, so that it forms no exception. It must, therefore, lead Antichrist's followers to exult in having at last have an anticipatory reference to the mystical Babylon. seemingly silenced in death their Christian rebukers. wn.ch-Greek," the which," viz., the city which, spirit Like her Lord, the church will have her dark passionually-in a spiritual sense. Sodom-The very term week followed by the bright resurrection-morn. It wa applied by Isaiah, 1. 10 to apostate Jerusalem (cf. curious historical coincidence that, at the fifth Lateran Ezekiel, 16. 48. Egypt-the nation which the Jews' be- council, May 5, 1514, no witness (not even the Moravians setting sin was to lean upon. where... Lord was crucified who were summoned) testified for the truth, as Huss -This identifies the city as Jerusalem, though the Lord and JEROME did at Constance: an orator ascended the was crucified outside of the city. EUSEBIUS mentions tribunal before the representatives of Papal Christenthat the scene of Christ's crucifixion was enclosed dom, and said. There is no reclamant, no opponent. within the city by Constantine: so it will be probably LUTHER, on October 31, 1517, exactly three and a half at the time of the slaying of the witnesses. The Beast years afterwards, posted up his famous thesis on the [e.g., Napoleon and France's efforts) has been long church at Wittenberg. The objection is, the years are struggling for a footing in Palestine: after his ascent years of 265, not 360 days, and so two and a half days from the bottomless pit he struggles much more. are deficient: but still the coincidence is curious; and [BENGEL] Some one of the Napoleonic dynasty may if this prophecy be allowed other fulfilments, besides obtain that footing, and even be regarded as Messiah the final and literal one under the last Antichrist, this by the Jews, in virtue of His restoring them to their may reasonably be regarded as one. send gifts one to own land; and so may prove to be the last Antichrist. another-as was usual at a joyous festival. tormented The difficulty is, how can Jerusalem be called "the them-viz., with the plagues which they had power to great city," i... Babylon? By her becoming the world's inflict (v. 5, 6; also, by their testimony against the capital of idolatrous apostasy, such as Babylon origin-earthly. 11. Translate as Greek," After the three days," ally was, and then Rome has been; just as she is here &c. the Spirit of life-the same which breathed lift called also "Sodom and Egypt." also our-A, B. C, into Israel's dry bones, Ezekiel, 37. 10, 11 (where see ORIGEN, ANDREAS, &c., read, "also their." Where my Notes), "Breath came into them." The passage their Lord also, as well as they, was slain. Cf. ch. 18. here, as there, is closely connected with Israel's restora 24, where the blood of ALL slain on earth is said to be tion as a nation to political and religious life. CL found IN BABYLON, just as in Matthew, 23. 35, Jesus also concerning the same, Hosea, 6. 2, where Ephraim saith that, "upon the Jews and JERUSALEM" (cf. v. 37, says, "After two days will He revive us: in the third 38, shall come ALL the righteous blood shed upon day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight" earth" whence it follows Jerusalem shall be the last into-so B and Vulgate. But A reads (Greek en autoisi, capital of the world-apostasy, and so receive the last so as to be! IN them." stood upon their feet-the very and worst visitation of all the judgments ever inflicted words in Ezekiel, 37. 10, which proves the allusion to on the apostate world, the earnest of which was given be to Israel's resurrection, in contrast to "the times in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. In the wider of the Gentiles" wherein these "tread under foot the sense, in the Church-historical period, the church being holy city." great fear-such as fell on the soldiers the sanctuary, all outside of it is the world, the great guarding Christ's tomb at His resurrection (Matthew, city, wherein all the martyrdoms of saints have taken 28. 4), when also there was a great earthquake je, z. place. Babylon marks its idolatry, Egypt its tyranny, saw-Greek, "beheld.” 12. They-So A, C, Vulgate, Sodom its desperate corruption, Jerusalem its preten- But B, Coptic, Syriae, and ANDREAS read, "I heard." sions to sanctity on the ground of spiritual privileges, a cloud-Greek, "the cloud?" which may be merely the whilst all the while it is the murderer of Christ in the generic expression for what we are familiar with, as we person of His members. All which is true of Rome. say "the clouds." But I prefer taking the article as So VITRINGA. But in the more definite sense, Jeru- definitely alluding to THE cloud which received Jesus salem is regarded, even in Hebrews (ch. 13. 12-14), as at His ascension, Acts, 1. 9 (where there is no article, the world-city which believers were then to go forth as there is no allusion to a previous cloud such as from, in order to "seek one to come." 9. they-rather, there is here). As they resembled Him in their three (some) of the peoples." people-Greek, "peoples." and a half years' witnessing, their three and a half days kindreds-Greek, "tribes:" all save the elect (whence it lying in death (though not for exactly the same time, is not said. The peoples, &c., but (some) of the peoples, nor put in a tomb as He was), so also in their ascen&c.: or, some of the peoples, &c., may refer to those of the sion: their ascension is the translation and transfiguranations, &c., who at the time shall hold possession of tion of the sealed of Israel (ch. 7.), and the elect of all Palestine and Jerusalem). shall see-So Vulgate, Syriac, nations, caught up out of the reach of the anti-Christian and Coptic. But A, B, C, ANDREAS, the present," see," foe. In ch. 14. 14, 16, 16. He is represented as sitting on or rather (Greek blepousin), "look upon." The pro- a white cloud. their enemies beheld them-and were phetic present. dead bodies-So Vulgate, Syriac, and thus openly convicted by God for their unbelief and ANDREAS. But A, B, C, and Coptic, singular, as in v. 8. persecution of His servants: unlike Elijah's ascension "dead body." Three and a half days answer to the formerly, in the sight of friends only. The church three and a half years (Notes, v. 2, 3), the half of seven, caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and transfigured the full and perfect number. shall not suffer-So B, in body, is justified by her Lord before the world. Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A, C, and Vulgate even as the man-child (Jesus) was "caught up unto read, "do not suffer." in graves-So Vulgate and God and His throne" from before the dragon standing PRIMASIUS. But B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS, ready to devour the woman's child as soon as born. 13. singular: translate, "into a sepulchre," lit., a monu-"In that same (lit., the) hour." great earthquakement. Accordingly, in righteous retribution in kind, the flesh of the anti-Christian hosts is not buried, but given to all the fowls in mid-heaven to eat (ch. 19. 17, 18, 21). 10. they that dwell upon...earth-those who belong to the earth, as its citizens, not to heaven (ch. 3. 10; 8. 13: 12. 12: 13. 8). shall-So Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic But A. B. C read the present: cf. Note on "shall not suffer. v. 9. rejoice over them-The anti-Christianity of the last days shall probably be under the name of philosophical enlightenment and civilization, but really man's deification of himself. Fanaticism shall answering to the "great earthquake" under the sixth seal, just at the approach of the Lord (ch. 6. 12. Christ was delivered unto His enemies on the fifth day of the week, and on the sixth was crucified, and on the Sab bath rested: so it is under the sixth seal and sixth trumpet that the last suffering of the church, begun under the fifth seal and trumpet, is to be consum mated, before she enters on her seventh day of eternal Sabbath. Siz is the number of the world-power's greatest triumph, but at the same time verges on seren, the Divine number, when its utter destruction takes The Kingdom of the REVELATION, XI. World Becomes Christ's. exercised, was rejected by the earthly rulers heretofore. The distinction of worldly and spiritual shall then cease. There will be no beast in opposition to the woman. Poetry, art, science, and social life will be at once worldly and Christian. kingdoms-A, B, C, Vulgate read the singular, "The kingdom (sovereignty) of (over) the world is our Lord's, and His Christ's." There is no good authority for English Version reading. The the world exercised by Christ. The earth-kingdoms are many: His shall be one. The appellation "Christ," the Anointed, is here, where His kingdom is mentioned, appropriately for the first time used in Revelation. For it is equivalent to KING. Though priests and proapplied to Him as King, insomuch that "the Lord's anointed" is His title as KING, in places where He is distinguished from the priests. The glorified Son of man shall rule mankind by His transfigured church in heaven, and by His people Israel on earth; Israel shall be the priestly mediator of blessings to the whole world, realizing them first. he-Not emphatical in the Greek. shall reign for ever and ever-Greek, “unto the ages of the ages." Here begins the millennial reign. the consummation of "the mystery of God" (ch. 10. 7), 16. before God-B and Syriac read. "before the throne of God." But A, C, Vulgate, and Coptic read as English Version. seats-Greek," thrones." 17. thanks-for the answer to our prayers (ch. 6. 10, 11) in destroying them which destroy the earth (v. 18), thereby preparing the way for setting up the kingdom of thyself and thy saints. and art to come-Omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, CYPRIAN, and ANDREAS. The consummation having actually come, they do not address Him as they did when it was still future, "Thou that art to come." Cf. v. 18, "is come." From the sounding of the seventh trumpet He is to His people JAH, the ever-present Lord WHO IS, more peculiarly than JEHOVAH "who is, was, and is to come." taken to thee thy great power-" to thee" is not in the Greek. Christ takes to Him the kingdom as His own of right. 18. the nations were angry-Alluding to Psalm 99. 1, LXX., "The Lord is become King: let the peoples become angry." Their anger is combined with alarm (Exodus, 16. 14; 2 Kings, 19. 26, 28, "thy rage against me is come up into mine ears, I will put my hook in thy nose." &c.). Translate, as the Greek is the same. "The nations were angered, and thy anger is come." How petty man's impotent anger, standing here side by side with that of the omnipotent God! dead...be judged-Proving that this seventh trumpet is at the end of all things, when the judgment on Christ's foes, and the reward of His servants, long prayed for by His saints, shall take place. the prophets place. Cf. 666 in ch. 13. 18, "the number of the beast." shall break to pieces all these kingdoms, and it shall tenth part of the city fell-i.e., of "the great city" (ch. stand for ever." It is the setting up of heaven's sove16. 19; Zechariah, 14. 2). Ten is the number of the world-reignty over the earth visibly, which, when invisibly kingdoms (ch. 17. 10-12), and the beast's horns (ch. 13. 1), and the dragon's ich. 12. 3). Thus, in the Church-historical view, it is hereby implied, that one of the ten apostate world-kingdoms fall. But in the narrower view a tenth of Jerusalem under Antichrist falls. The nine-tenths remain, and become when purified the centre of Christ's earthly kingdom. of men-Greek, " names of men." The men are as accurately enumerated as if their paines were given. seven thousand-kingdoms of the world give way to the kingdom of (over) ELLIOTT interprets seven chiliads or provinces, i.e., the seven Dutch united provinces lost to the papacy; and "names of men," titles of dignity, duchies, lordships, &c. Rather, seven thousand combines the two mystical perfect and comprehensive numbers seven and thousand, implying the full and complete destruc-phets also were anointed, yet this term is peculiarly tion of the impenitent. the remnant-consisting of the Israelite inhabitants not slain. Their conversion forms a blessed contrast to ch. 16. 9; and above, ch. 9. 20, 21. These repenting (Zechariah, 12. 10-14; 13. 1) become in the flesh the loyal subjects of Christ reigning over the earth with His transfigured saints. gave glory to the God of heaven-which whilst apostates, and worshipping the beast's image, they had not done. God of heavenThe apostates of the last days, in pretended scientific enlightenment, recognise no heavenly power, but only the natural forces in the earth which come under their observation. His receiving up into heaven the two witnesses who had power during their time on earth to shut heaven from raining (v. 6), constrained His and their enemies who witnessed it, to acknowledge the God of heaven to be God of the earth (v. 4). As in v. 4 He declared Himself to be God of the earth by His two witnesses, so now He proves Himself to be God of heaven also. 14. The second woe-That under the sixth trampet ch. 9. 12 21); including also the prophecy ch. 11. 1-13: Woe to the world, joy to the faithful, as their redemption draweth nigh. the third woe cometh quickly -It is not mentioned in detail for the present, until first there is given a sketch of the history of the origination, suffering, and faithfulness of the church in a time of apostasy and persecution. Instead of the third woe being detailed, the grand consummation is summarily noticed, the thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders in heaven for the establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth, attended with the destruction of the destroyers of the earth. 15. Sounded-with his trumpet. Evidently the LAST trumpet." Six is close to seven, but does not reach it. The world-judgments are complete in siz, but by the fulfilment of seven, the world-kingdoms become Christ's. Six is the number of the world given over to judgment. It is half of twelve, the church's number, as three and a half is half of seven, the Divine number for completeness. BENGEL thinks the angel here to have been Gabriel, which name is compounded of El GOD, and Geber MIGHTY MAN (ch. 10. 1). Gabriel therefore appropriately announced to Mary the advent of the mighty God-man: cf. the account of the man-child's birth which follows (ch. 12. 1-6), to which this forms the transition, though the seventh trumpet in time is subsequent, being the consummation of the historical episode chs. 12. and 13. The seventh trumpet, like the seventh seal and seventh vial, being the consummation, is accompanied differently from the preceding six: not the consequences which follow on earth, but those IN HEAVEN, are set before us, the great voices and thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders in heaven, as the half-hour's silence in heaven at the seventh seal, and the voice out of the temple in heaven, "It is done," at the seventh vial. This is parallel to Daniel, 2. 44, The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it as, for instance, the two prophesying witnesses (v. 3). and those who have showed them kindness for Christ's sake. Jesus shall come to effect by His presence that which we have looked for long, but vainly, in His absence, and by other means. destroy them which destroy the earth-Retribution in kind (ef. ch. 16. 6; Luke, 19. 27). Daniel, 7. 14-18, my Notes. 19. A similar solemn conclusion to that of the seventh seal, ch. 8. 5, and to that of the seventh vial, ch. 16. 18. Thus, it appears. the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, are not consecutive, but parallel, and ending in the same consunimation. They present the unfolding of God's plans for bringing about the grand end under three different aspects, mutually complementing each other. the temple-the sanctuary or Holy place (Greek naos), not the whole temple (Greek hieron). opened in heaven - A, C read the article. "the temple of God which is in heaven, was opened." the ark of his testament-or ... His covenant." As in the first verse the |